CN Rail strike causes pileup of trade goods

Typically, 70 ships a week sail in and out of Vancouver harbour, loading and unloading cargo, but that number will quickly start to dwindle if the CN Rail strike drags on, said Chamber of Shipping president Robert Lewis-Manning.

The labour dispute at CN, which has dragged into its seventh day, saw 3,200 train conductors and yard workers represented by the

Teamsters Canada Rail Conference walk off the job over safety and rest-time issues, with the work stoppage halting about half of the rail traffic coming in and out of the Port of Vancouver.

“At the moment, we’re not seeing a lot of ships at anchor, which is the physical piece we’ll see,” said Lewis-Manning.

“By the end of the week, that will probably change quite dramatically.”

Lewis-Manning said terminals that handle bulk commodities, such as grain and coal, still have stockpiles to load onto arriving ships, but that will likely change quickly if they aren’t replenished.

“Again, that’s going to get at the critical point probably in the next three or four days,” Lewis-Manning said. “Then, if we work on the assumption there is a resolution to the strike ... we’re now into weeks or months of recovery from this.”

For now, two key container terminals haven’t seen significant disruption to their operations, according to Eric Waltz, president of GCT Canada, which operates the Vanterm container terminal on Burrard Inlet and the Port of Vancouver’s Deltaport complex.

Waltz said they “have not yet experienced significant impacts to rail cargo fluidity since the CN labour strike began,” but added, “We are, however, concerned that any prolonged disruptions in services could see diversion away from West Coast Canadian ports.”

Marie Claude Bibeau, Canada’s new agriculture minister, met with farmers in Regina on Monday and said the federal government is pushing both sides to reach an agreement, although there is growing pressure for government to step in with back-to-work legislation.

CN’s work stoppage has also halted grain shipments for northeast B.C. farmers just when they need to move the limited amount of crops they have been able to harvest during a rain-soaked fall season.